Here’s a mixture of sizzle and fizzle. The sizzle: soybeans. No, not the actual commodity, but the torrid shares of Bunge, a leading global soybean producer, which recently ballooned on the Big Board to a series of all-time highs, the latest being $63.66,a sprint of about 80% from its 52-week low of $35.56.

The fizzle: The ballyhoo from the bulls about a lusty summer rally, which, based on the past, is about as credible as the tooth fairy.

You can already hear the sound of the bugle. That’s the annual wake-up call from the bulls to herald the advent of the traditional summer rally. But judging from a Standard & Poor’s analysis of the last 59 years, the only thing the bugle will be blowing is hot air.

Since 1946, the average advance from June through August has been a little under 1%. What’s more, of the past 10 summers, five have seen negative returns in the S &P 500. If you look at the summer months individually over the same period, the picture is equally uninspiring: a meager average rise of 0.23% in June, 0.83% in July, and a loss of 0.12% in August.

So the bottom line from S &P on the summer rally: What summer rally?

Soybeans may not excite you as much as technology stocks, but maybe they should. Despite Bunge’s sharp rise, “the run is far from over,” said Richard Moroney, research chief of Dow Theory Forecasts, a well-regarded weekly newsletter out of Hammond, Ind. He believes the stock, which closed Friday at $61.50, has the momentum to rise another 23% to $75 over the next 12 to 18 months.

While some pros complain it’s either feast or famine at Bunge, given the habitual fluctuations in soybean prices, Mr. Moroney observes that the company – which was founded in 1818 and posted sales last year of $25.1 billion – has managed to perform well despite rollercoaster pricing. Soybean prices hit a 15-year high last year, but are now down about 70% from their peak.

Still, global demand for soybeans is growing, along with supply, which should help Bunge meet its 2005 growth targets. The decline in prices from last year’s high is spurring demand. Still, higher soybean prices overall have led to increased selling by farmers, fattening Bunge’s soybean-crushing margins. Some other Bunge plusses that excite Mr. Moroney:

* It’s expanding in South America and Eastern Europe, two fast-growing agricultural regions, and increasing its presence in China and India, key markets for consumer goods.

* The company has a 30% share of the chemical-fertilizer market in Brazil, one of the world’s fastest growing soybean producers.

* Because it does business at every level of the soybean market, Bunge can hedge commodity-price exposure in a variety of ways.

* While the company has taken on considerable debt as a result of acquisitions, Bunge’s growth has helped it diversify geographically, improve efficiency, and lower costs.

Though consensus estimates call for per-share earnings to decline 2% this year to $4.09, a 9% rebound to $4.47 is projected in 2006. After that, Mr. Moroney sees profits averaging annual gains of about 9% to 10% over the next three to five years.